[ad_1]
UFC 276 was okay, not nice. Israel Adesanya cruised previous Jared Cannonier in the principle occasion, Alexander Volkov put a one-sided masterclass on Max Holloway, and Alex Pereira put an finish to Sean Strickland’s title hopes for the quick future.
So, have the celebrities really aligned to place Adesanya again in entrance of his most harmful foe, this time contained in the Octagon? Is Volkanovski’s largest battle up within the light-weight division? And is Jalin Turner on his option to an opportunity at UFC gold?
To reply these questions—and an entire lot extra—I’ll be utilizing the basic Silva/Shelby battle reserving methodology from the UFC of years previous. Meaning pitting winners towards winners, losers towards losers, and equally tenured expertise up towards each other. Hopefully, by following that mannequin, a couple of of those bout concepts will truly make it off the web page and into the Octagon. Now, let’s get to the fights!
ISRAEL ADESANYA
It’s onerous to disclaim a sure feeling of ‘cruise management’ about Adesanya’s efficiency on this bout. He clearly received nearly each spherical, however Cannonier wasn’t taken with bringing a lot of a battle to him—and Adesanya was very happy to only choose him aside out at distance with out creating rather more than what his opponent gave him to work with. Nonetheless, I can’t blame Adesanya a lot for delivering one thing lower than spectacular, frankly. The battle was by no means in peril of slipping away from him and, exterior of spherical 3, he by no means dropped into full inactivity—taking larger dangers would have been silly.
However, it does make the considered an upcoming bout with Alex Pereira all of the extra attention-grabbing. The Brazilian has discovered methods to beat Adesnaya in hanging matches earlier than, and he’s highly effective sufficient that if Adesanya can’t create a snug lead early, then he’d probably be compelled to place himself in excessive hazard. It’s the battle each males need and it’s essentially the most attention-grabbing reserving within the division—Adesanya vs. Pereira must be an interesting title battle.
JARED CANNONIER
It was the most important stage of Jared Cannonier’s profession, and he didn’t appear ready to grab the second. Adesanya was capable of hold him on the top of his jab and and low kicks for the higher a part of 5 rounds, punctuated by occasional clinch exchanges. Though the ‘Final Stylebender’ admitted that the ‘Killa Gorilla’ was properly set, defensively, to stall his offense, Cannonier didn’t appear to have a plan to supply a lot hazard of his personal. The tip consequence may very well be a tough finish to Cannonier’s championship hopes. At 38-years-old, possibilities he returns to title rivalry—even in a division as skinny as middleweight will be—appear slim. That doesn’t imply there aren’t some good prime 10 fights nonetheless ready on the market for him although.
Sean Strickland simply suffered his personal upset loss additional down the cardboard, and upcoming bouts between Marvin Vettori & Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa & Luke Rockhold each appear to be they’d produce one thing value seeing. Taking a look at these choices, I’d say the perfect one is a reserving towards Paulo Costa. Whether or not he wins or loses towards Luke Rockhold, he’s not going to be in place to contend for the belt, and Cannonier vs. Costa looks like an in any other case wonderful show of slugging energy.
ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI
Alexander Volkanovski went out and placed on one other masterclass to defend his featherweight title. Holloway did properly to press the motion early, forcing Volkanovski to sit down down on counters and work by extended exchanges—however the additional the battle went, the extra Volkanovski established his jab, and the extra hassle Holloway had combating his manner round it. The tip consequence was a dominant 5 rounds from the Aussie, who introduced after the bout that he desires to battle for the light-weight title. It’s not a foul thought contemplating that Josh Emmett isn’t the world’s most thrilling prime contender. However is it one thing that the UFC is taken with making occur, contemplating that Charles Oliveira has been calling for a battle with Connor McGregor? If the UFC desires to make Oliveira vs. Volkanovsi, I’m completely right here for it. In the event that they don’t, then Volkanovski vs. Emmett is ok. For now, I’ll hedge towards McGregor getting booked within the quick future and say the ‘Nice’ will get his want. Alexander Volkanovski vs. Charles Oliveira is an outstanding battle if each events need it.
MAX HOLLOWAY
The primary battle might have been decently tight, the second battle might have been razor skinny, however there was completely no query as to who walked away from this third bout with the victory. Alexander Volkanovski has Max Holloway’s quantity, and down 0-3 over their careers towards the champ, it appears actually unlikely that Holloway sees one other title shot so long as the Aussie is king. That mentioned, Holloway continues to be an absolute thrill to look at. If Josh Emmett’s not going to get his shot at gold straight away, then I’ve bought no drawback seeing Emmett vs. Holloway. Holloway has additionally talked about combating up at 155, the place there’s at all times the off probability of a McGregor rematch. For now I’ll assume Holloway goes to remain at 145, and if he does then I’ll say e book Holloway vs. Josh Emmett. Emmett deserves an opportunity at gold, however Holloway’s beat everybody else within the prime 5. I assume there’s at all times Giga Chikadze or Arnold Allen if that may’t occur.
ALEX PEREIRA
If Sean Strickland had simply been prepared to battle towards kind, he very properly might have walked away from this bout with a title shot in hand. As a substitute, true to his type, he tried to stroll Pereira down and battle behind his jab and entrance kicks—seeing if he might overwhelm the power-punching Brazilian with sheer quantity. It didn’t work. As a substitute, towards all odds, ‘Poatan’ appears to be like to have fought his manner into title rivalry; Adesanya’s previous foe has arrived on the prime of the heap. There’s no extra significant, attention-grabbing, or fated match to make within the middleweight division. Hell, even when Adesanya had misplaced Adesanya vs. Pereira would have been the perfect battle to make. Alex Pereira vs. Israel Adesanya is the proper battle for middleweight gold.
BRYAN BARBERENA
A giant win for Barberena in an absolute dogfight with Robbie Lawler. The previous UFC champion was touchdown properly with severe energy, however simply couldn’t hold tempo with Barberena’s fixed output. As soon as Barberena began mixing elbows into the battle, the tide actually turned. That places ‘Bam Bam’ on a nifty little 3-fight successful streak. And with Lawler and Brown each below his belt, it ought to give him a little bit of cache coming into his reserving too. Fights with Gunnar Nelson, James Krause (if he’s not retired), Santiago Ponzinibbio, or Francisco Trinaldo all appear to be wise bookings. On condition that Trinaldo continues to be trucking alongside and successful fights on the ripe previous age of 43, it looks like a enjoyable manner for Barberena to proceed carving his manner by the UFC’s welterweight veterans. Barberena vs. Trinaldo could be a rock strong subsequent bout coming off this win.
PEDRO MUNHOZ & SEAN O’MALLEY
We didn’t actually get to see the perfect this battle needed to provide the primary time, and I can solely assume that there’d be extra warmth between the 2 males after this consequence. It might not have been a thrill and neither man did a whole lot of harm, however O’Malley shedding the primary spherical already makes it a fairly lame battle for him to try to say Munhoz stop on. Each males bought an opportunity to work on some good concepts, neither of them bought the prospect to hold them really to fruition. All instructed, it simply looks like a battle that wants re-booking. Put O’Malley and Munhoz again within the cage collectively and see if they’ll’t discover their option to an truly thrilling battle this time.
JALIN TURNER
A fully excellent efficiency from Turner. He had Riddell on the again foot from the soar, landed a tough combo, bought Riddell seeking to shoot, after which wrapped up his neck in a rush for the submission. No manner to enhance on a win like that for the 6’ 3” ‘Tarantula’, who appears to be like like an actual drawback within the light-weight division. And fortuitously for him, final week’s battle card provides the proper subsequent step up the ranks. Arman Tsarukyan arguably received nearly each spherical of his predominant occasion scrap with Mateusz Gamrot, he simply wasn’t capable of persuade two of three judges of that concept. Coming off a extremely contested loss, he wants one other battle towards a ranked opponent with some actual momentum. That appears lots like Turner proper now. Jalin Turner vs. Arman Tsarukyan is a superb subsequent check for Turner and an ideal rebound alternative for the Armenian.
JIM MILLER
An uncharacteristically gradual begin for Miller let Cerrone on this battle much more than I may need anticipated. It appeared just like the kicking sport ‘Cowboy’ beat him with of their first bout was nonetheless very a lot on the thoughts of ‘A-10’. However Miller hung tight in hanging exchanges, and used these kicks to search for grappling alternatives. It gave him a takedown within the first spherical, and within the second it initiated the scramble that noticed Miller snatch up the sub. That’s 3-straight spherical 2 wins for the person lengthy recognized for his spherical 1 end capability.
On condition that the UFC has already re-signed Miller forward of his victory, there are nonetheless some strong bouts on the market for him. I’d nonetheless like to see the longtime vet tackle Paddy Pimblett, however bouts with Rafa Garcia, Claudio Puelles, or Ricky Glenn would all be enjoyable. Hell there’s even an upcoming bout between Nasrat Haqparast and John Makdessi that I’d like to see him battle the winner of. For now, I’ll say Claudio Puelles vs. Jim Miller looks like a terrific subsequent battle. However I really need that Pimblett bout that I’ve written up beforehand.
DRICUS DU PLESSIS
Du Plessis’ blitzing, power-striking model leaves him vast open to counters and leaves him wanting exhausted. However along with his mixture of measurement and dedication, he could make himself a harmful fighter to face spherical after spherical after spherical. Tavares regarded like he had his quantity early, however he couldn’t sustain with fixed prolonged mixtures du Plessis delivered to him, or the facility coming again each time he threw. With that win, Du Plessis is now out to 3-0 within the UFC and firmly entrenched within the middleweight prime 15. Submit battle, he had a fairly affordable callout to make. Kelvin Gastelum is at the moment recovering from harm, however he and Du Plessis had been set to face off again in April. If Gastelum goes to return to motion any time quickly, that’s solely a greater battle to make off this win. Du Plessis vs. Gastelum looks like an effective way for Du Plessis to ascertain himself as a possible future contender.
OTHER BOUTS: Sean Strickland vs. Derek Brunson, Robbie Lawler vs. Court docket McGee, Brad Riddell vs. Matt Frevola, Ian Garry vs. Daniel Rodriguez, Gabriel Inexperienced vs. Andre Fialho, Brad Tavares vs. Eryk Anders, Andre Muniz vs. the Until/Hermansson winner, Uriah Corridor vs. Ian Heinisch, Maycee Barber vs. Jennifer Maia, Julija Stoliarenko vs. Josiane Nunes, Jessica-Rose Clark vs. Ashlee Evans-Smith
[ad_2]
Source link
